Tunisia Assassination Upends Government

People in Tunis mob an ambulance carrying the body of Chokri Belaid after his assassination Wednesday.
European Pressphoto Agency

By

Charles Levinson

Updated Feb. 7, 2013 5:12 a.m. ET

A leader of Tunisia's secularist opposition was shot dead outside his home in the capital, sparking broad protests and an announcement by the prime minister that he would dissolve his Islamist-led government.

The assassination comes amid a violent standoff between the country's Islamist and secular political forces, after what had been a relatively smooth transition toward democracy in what was the Arab Spring's first successful popular uprising.

A Tunisian opposition leader critical of the Islamist-led government and violence by radical Muslims was shot dead, according to the government. Charles Levinson reports on Lunch Break. Photo: Getty Images.

Chokri Belaid, a 47-year-old outspoken critic of the government, was shot at close range as he was about to get into his car and go to work on Wednesday, according to the Ministry of Interior. It was the first political assassination in Tunisia since President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was driven from office in January 2011.

Thousands of Tunisians took to the streets in several cities after the attack. In the capital, Tunis, police used tear gas to disperse wailing demonstrators surrounding the ambulance carrying Mr. Belaid's body to the morgue. One policeman was killed during protests in Tunis, the government said.

Many protesters chanted "the people want the fall of the regime" and other slogans that echoed through Tunisia's streets during the revolution two years ago, witnesses said. This time, however, the ruling party, Ennahda, bore the brunt of the popular rage.

Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who is from the Islamist party, said late Wednesday he would dissolve the government and form a national-unity cabinet of technocrats, in a bid to head off the deepening crisis. Some moderate members of Ennahda and many in the opposition had been calling for a unity government for months, but negotiations over its composition had gone nowhere.

It was unclear whether Mr. Jebali's pledge to form a new, more inclusive government would satisfy opposition forces who accuse his party of encouraging political violence. Opposition leaders have called for a general strike on Thursday. Some threatened to withdraw from the elected, Islamist-dominated assembly tasked with drafting Tunisia's new constitution.

ENLARGE

Chokri Belaid, shown speaking in January.
Reuters

That draft is already four months past due, and the withdrawal of opposition parties could derail Tunisia's democratic transition and delay elections, which are slated to be held in the fall after a new constitution has been approved.

After Tunisia's revolution kicked off a wave of popular uprisings across the Arab world, the country plodded peacefully toward democracy, even as political transitions elsewhere in the region were mired in violence. The election of the constituent assembly in 2011 was seen as a model throughout the region.

But the elected government has struggled to address many of the economic grievances that sparked the uprising. It has similarly failed to address political demands such as reforming the police force and establishing an independent judiciary.

"The country is diving into deeper economic problems, unemployment is growing, not getting better, and little is being done to advance the political transition," said Amine Ghali, director of the Al Kawakibi Democracy Transition Center, a pro-democracy Tunisian nongovernmental organization.

But Mr. Belaid's relatives and many opposition officials blamed Ennahda and its allies. "Rached Ghannouchi has assassinated my brother," Abdelmajid Belaid told a Tunisian television station.

Ennahda denied the accusation and pledged a full investigation. "Ennahda is the main target of this crime. We believe that this was done to make Ennahda look in the eyes of our people like a failed party that can't protect people," said Lotfy Zitoun, a member of the party's 20-member executive bureau.

Mr. Ghannouchi's secular coalition ally, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, blamed the assassination on "the enemies of the revolution."

Mr. Belaid, who made his name defending political activists when Tunisia was ruled by dictatorship, emerged in recent months as one of the government's fiercest critics. His Party of Democratic Patriots won only one seat on the constituent assembly, but he led efforts to unite several leftist parties in October.

Photos

Claudia Wiens/Corbis

The night before he was killed, he told Tunisia's Nessma TV channel that Ennahda was inciting violence. "All those who oppose Ennahda become the targets of violence," he said.

Over the weekend, thugs broke up a political rally led by Mr. Belaid in northern Tunisia, the kind of attack on opposition gatherings that has become commonplace. Outspoken journalists have been threatened. At a clash between pro-government and opposition forces in southern Tunisia in the fall, a local opposition leader was beaten to death.

Opposition members say a group called "The Committees to Protect the Revolution" is behind the violence, but the affiliations of those involved are murky. Ennahda disputes charges it has links to the group.

Mr. Belaid "was targeted because he has been on the front line criticizing Ennahda, and the Islamist-led government, and he has been denouncing what he called the attempts by the Islamists and the Salafists to impose on Tunisians a new way of life," said Kamel Labidi, president of Tunisia's independent media-reform commission.

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